When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Luke 5:8).
In yesterday’s lesson, we learned how uncomfortable man is in the presence of God. It is because of His holiness that sinners hate Christ. His perfection shines forth as a reminder of our own imperfections, and unredeemed men and women hate Him for it. Many people say they don’t want anything to do with Christ because He catered to the weak, because He walked among the poor, because He has created a religion in which people are made dependent upon something outside themselves. But the truth of the matter is that these same people despise Christ because He reminds them of their own incompetence, their own failures, their own poverty.
When Jesus called His disciples, He stopped by the sea of Galilee and found Peter struggling to bring in a catch. Jesus, who was not a fisherman, told Peter to go back out and cast the net into the sea once more. Peter obeyed, but one gets the feeling from the passage that he was not convinced that Jesus could make a difference. After all, Peter was the professional. He was the one trained and competent. Jesus was only a teacher. But he went anyway, and Jesus proved that He was the most competent of all. He had the power to fill the nets when Peter wasn’t able to catch even a meager portion.
Peter’s response to such a great act was not what one might expect. He didn’t see it as a chance to cash in on Jesus’ power, but he was humbled by it. When Jesus revealed His power, He revealed His majesty and His holiness; He revealed that He was separate from other men, and greater. Peter looked upon Jesus’ holiness and felt exposed because of his own sin. In response, he asked Jesus to leave because he could not stand in the presence of the Holy One exposed in his shame and his guilt.
This is the state of man before the holiness of God. He is naked, exposed, and guilty. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, they hid themselves and were ashamed of their nakedness. They could not come into the presence of God because of their sin. God, in His mercy, clothed them by giving them animal skins to wrap around their bodies. In Christ, we are covered by His righteousness—a worthy covering that allows us to stand in the presence of the holy without shame and without guilt.
In the last day, those who do not believe in Christ will say to the mountains, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!” Guilt causes us to want to hide away from God and from other people. Go to Christ today, and ask Him to take away your guilt and to cover your shame.
